GE Capital

American International Group Inc., Prudential Financial Inc. and a unit of General Electric Co. were identified by U.S. regulators as potential risks to the financial system in a step toward putting the firms under tighter government scrutiny.

U.S. stocks advanced, snapping a three-day decline in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as better-than-estimated reports on housing starts and industrial production bolstered confidence in the world’s largest economy.